Regulating Street Performers at FSE
While I can understand the desire to reign in the craziness at FSE, the strip could also benefit from similar regulation.
I think the county waiting to see how well it works out downtown before trying anything for the strip...
If you regulate freedom of speech and expression you incur liabilities for the performance, not to mention violating the constitutional rights of the performer.
Getting out the popcorn for when the city gets their ass handed to them. Unfortunately it us that will pay for it.
Frankly I was surprised at the near nudity some of these clowns were displaying when I visited FSE last spring.
Very much "in your face."
No doubt Ma and Pa Kettle were not amused.
I was amused, but only in a snarky way.
Won't happen.Quote: MaxPenGetting out the popcorn for when the city gets their ass handed to them.
The ACLU was on board when they made the new rules.
Quote: MaxPenI'm not talking about the ACLU. They are and were never anything but a minor concern to the bureaucrats. Use your imagination as to the responsibility the city is assuming through these regulatory actions that they are taking.
Sorry, I guess my imagination sucks. Can you spell it out for those of us too stupid to understand what you are referring to?
Quality not quantity is exactly how I feel.Quote: RSThey should get rid of all the homeless people and beggars from FSE and the strip, as well as all the sh*tty "street performers" that are basically glorified beggars. Note: I'm not saying all street performers are beggars....some are pretty cool....but there are plenty that don't really add any (positive) value.
It's almost embarrassing to Las Vegas. Grungy guys walking around in nothing but G-strings is NOT art, acting, preforming or expression. They are not preforming or expressing anything but pathetic begging tactics.
I was told by someone at Binion's the reason they took out the do it yourself time stamp parking validatior, was because the "street performers" were using the parking garage as their own personal employee parking lot. I'm not sure I believe that self serving excuse, but none the less, it gave them a seemingly legitimate reason. No doubt the so called street performers helped cause them to make that decision an easy one.
I always felt they should have to have some kind of permit, I think they should make them get a sheriffs card as well(weed out the no talent beggars).
Personally I think they should be limited to a few people per so many feet, or just put up a circus tent and let them fight it out.
If I recall correctly he has a fairly large setup on the back of a truck/trailer, so that could possibly be pretty tough to relocate every two hours.
I think Carl is good and I like listening to him. Dude can hit some loud notes! :)
He is a contracted FSE act. During his sets, the canopy has his name above his setup and his music is piped thru the FSE sound system, in his area.
Beggars on the pedestrian overpasses on the strip that sleep there--that's a different story. Things like this shouldn't be tolerated.
Quote: RSThey should get rid of all the homeless people and beggars from FSE and the strip, as well as all the sh*tty "street performers" that are basically glorified beggars. Note: I'm not saying all street performers are beggars....some are pretty cool....but there are plenty that don't really add any (positive) value.
a decade ago, homeless were kept out of FSE by security.
why did the casinos stop that?
diapers and dirty costumes? They bring
Fremont St to 3rd world levels, I hate
all of them. The nuns with the fake
boobs? That's real class. They all make
me feel dirty, except Carl, he can stay.
Quote: RSThey should get rid of all the homeless people and beggars from FSE and the strip,
I too wish Las Vegas could eliminate homelessness. Until that happens it's good they have the opportunity to earn a few dollar bills and loose change
Quote: TomGUntil that happens it's good they have the opportunity to earn a few dollar bills and loose change
Just not on Fremont St. A few years
ago no begging was allowed under the
canopy. Now you see it all over down
there. It turns people off when some
long haired hippie type has a sign asking
for money.
Quote: EvenBobJust not on Fremont St. A few years
ago no begging was allowed under the
canopy. Now you see it all over down
there. It turns people off when some
long haired hippie type has a sign asking
for money.
again, why did the casinos change their mind and allow this?
Quote: 100xOddsagain, why did the casinos change their mind and allow this?
I used to see cops on bicycles under the
canopy all the time. But for the last
couple of years I never see them, are
they gone? They kept the beggars and
the homeless away.
They said they couldn't under the current state of the law.
To quote John Mayall: "The Laws Must Change!"
BTW, there are as many if not more nasty homeless beggars littering the streets and offramps of Portland.
Bah!
(It's not like haven't spent extraordinary funds past and present building stuff in Vegas)
Quote: blount2000I wonder if Carl "Safe Sax" Ferris is considered a street performer or if he has some other official arrangement with the casinos on Fremont?
If I recall correctly he has a fairly large setup on the back of a truck/trailer, so that could possibly be pretty tough to relocate every two hours.
I think Carl is good and I like listening to him. Dude can hit some loud notes! :)
Yeah, but he has that reverb echo thing going on which enhances the notes he plays. Take away all the gimmick and let me hear just his talent.
He's like one of those guys that teaches himself
how to paint the same five paintings and he paints
them on the street for money.
I like Carl, he fits in down there. Music wise, he's
somebody that would normally be playing in a
band somewhere that did weddings and reunions.
He's a showman, and he found his gig.
Quote: rxwineIf casinos and the city wanted to badly enough they could build private pedestrian walkways (tubes) underground or at 2nd floor height which then can be legally cleared being private property.
(It's not like haven't spent extraordinary funds past and present building stuff in Vegas)
If the various casinos and the city had got together agreeing to private pathways a long time ago, all the varied attempts to clean up the areas wouldn't be necessary.
What do you think a big resort like Disney World would look like with public squares and public streets crisscrossing through the park available to anyone who shows up?
Be the same.
You can manage a private area, but it's a free-for-all bum and beggar-fest elsewhere in public areas.
(they would have to make arrangements to reconnect an imploded casino for a rebuilt one, but don't see a big deal with that)
I already have seen two old guys with volunteer police yellow polos out there watching the performers.Maybe they have the power to issue tickets or just call metro if they see something.
As someone who lives here I like to see a variety.
I don't really mind it how it is, though.
They argue that ordinances which prohibit people from camping / sleeping in public places are in violation of the eighth amendment as cruel and unusual punishment, and that criminalizing that behavior is to criminalize homelessness itself, as sleep is a requirement for all people.
This only applies in public venues, however: owners still can control what happens on private property.
So then, a simple solution to the FSE problem may now be at hand: privatization.
Were the city to vacate the canopied street and deed it to the adjoining casino property owners, it would become private property, and then the owners should (theroretically, anyway) be able to evict or trespass beggars, bums and undesirables as deemed necessary.
Give the casinos the same power to regulate activity on their curtilage as they now have over the interior of their casino.
Or the unique religious zealots who feel in order to get the word out they have to yell in your face.
Quote: MrVThe Dept. of Justice filed an opinion in an Idaho case that has a bearing on this issue.
They argue that ordinances which prohibit people from camping / sleeping in public places are in violation of the eighth amendment as cruel and unusual punishment, and that criminalizing that behavior is to criminalize homelessness itself, as sleep is a requirement for all people.
This only applies in public venues, however: owners still can control what happens on private property.
So then, a simple solution to the FSE problem may now be at hand: privatization.
Were the city to vacate the canopied street and deed it to the adjoining casino property owners, it would become private property, and then the owners should (theroretically, anyway) be able to evict or trespass beggars, bums and undesirables as deemed necessary.
Give the casinos the same power to regulate activity on their curtilage as they now have over the interior of their casino.
And take on all the cost & liability of what happens in FSE. What casino is that stupid?
With privatization, the casinos should be able to ENFORCE their rules with zealous enforcement, just as they currently do inside their walls.
What other viable options are out there, other than to let the whole thing implode?
Quote: MrVYou miss the point.
With privatization, the casinos can ENFORCE their rules with zealous enforcement.
What other viable options are out there, other than to let the whole thing implode?
Do the same thing old people do when there are kids on their front lawn: hose 'em!
Quote: MrVWhat other viable options are out there, other than to let the whole thing implode?
Continue as it is, allowing people to exercise both freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. If we do that, there will be no implosion.
Downtown has been on life support until the recent influx of money and development.
People are bothered and vexed by these "performers."
In a cost benefit analysis, I'd vote to take steps to keep them away, if that is what it takes to keep downtown hopping and viable.
Las Vegas has enough ghost towns.
Like I've said, I like FSE for the most part. But if it gets a little tackier, smellier, shabbier--then I'll feel differently.
Quote: GreasyjohnI have never been bothered by any of the street performers .
It's the quality, not the quantity. If somebody
has a true talent, that's fine. A juggler or a
magician or a singer. Putting on a rented
costume or a diaper and parading around
takes zero talent.
Quote: MrVYou miss the point.
With privatization, the casinos should be able to ENFORCE their rules with zealous enforcement, just as they currently do inside their walls.
What other viable options are out there, other than to let the whole thing implode?
If you make a public sidewalk a private one, there is still the possibility that a court could still rule it a public sidewalk for First Amendment purposes. The Venetian went through this when it first opened.
